Delhi High Court thwarted another attempt by the Waqf board to illegally claim ownership of public property. On Monday, the High Court dismissed a petition by the Shahi Idgah Waqf Management Committee opposing the installation of a statue of Rani of Jhansi in the Shahi Idgah Park, claiming that the park was Waqf property (PDF).
The Waqf committee had petitioned the court to stop the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) from violating on Waqf property. The Shahi Idgah (Waqf) Managing Committee had moved a petition through its president Haji Shakir Dost Mohammad, seeking direction to not violate upon Waqf property of the Shahi Idgah in Sadar Bazar, which, they claimed, also included the Idgah Park surrounding it.
In the high court, another petition was filed by the Idgah committee challenging the order by the single judge on the September 23 where the Idgah Waqf Committee’s petition was dismissed. The Shahi Idgah Waqf Management Committee filed the petition through its President Haji Shakir Dost Mohammad. The petition wanted the court to restrict the encroachment by DDA and MCD into Waqf’s property and construction of any statue/structure inside the Shahi Idgah Park, which they claimed was a Waqf property.
Mohammad claimed that he had the locus standi to file the petition on the basis of Section 3(k) of the Waqf Act,
1995, which says.
Section 3(k) of the Waqf Act says:
“(k) “person interested in a 1[waqf]” means any person who is entitled to receive any pecuniary or other benefits from the 1[waqf] and includes—
(i) any person who has the right to [offer prayer‟ or to perform any religious right in a mosque, idgah, imambara, dargah [khanqah] peerkhana and karbala], maqbara, graveyard or any other religious institution connected with the [waqf] or to participate in any religious or charitable institution under the [waqf];…”
Mohammad produced a notification published in 1970 which claimed that the Park was an ancient property built during the Mughal period. Mohammad further claimed that the property was being used to offer Namaz and could accommodate 50,000 ‘namazis’ at one time.
The Waqf Committee led by Mohammad claimed in their petition that they were shocked when in August 2024 a JCB entered the park to install a statue of Rani of Jhansi. Mohammad also made a representation to the Delhi Minority Commission.
The Minority Commission had passed an order saying that the proposal to move the statue of Maharani of Jhansi to the Shahi Idgah Park would create a law and order situation, and therefore, the status quo should be maintained. In the judgement, the court said that there was no dispute that the surrounding area of the mosque and the park belonged to the DDA and was not a waqf property. This was from the fact that the DWB had conducted an inspection of the park along with DDA and MCD and the measurements had confirmed that the park was indeed not a part of the Waqf property.
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